INDUSTRY NEWS

KERRY WASHINGTON, TIME’S UP INVEST IN FEMALE WORKING SPACE: The Wing is taking flight. Sequoia Capital is leading the $75 million investment in the female co-working space The Wing. Upfront Ventures, Airbnb, Kerry Washington and Time’s Up leaders Katie McGrath, Valerie Jarrett and Robbie Kaplan are also backers. "The Wing is more than a company, it's a phenomenon," said Sequoia partner Jess Lee, who along with Upfront partner Kara Nortman has joined The Wing's board of directors. "Every Wing location is its own extraordinary community of women who help each other achieve new heights, professionally and personally. We're excited to partner with The Wing on growing its footprint globally in the physical realm and into the digital realm." The Wing has more than 6,000 members in cities across the country and plans to expand internationally next year.

ALADDIN PREVIEW: When Walt Disney Pictures shared its first teaser trailer of Aladdin in October, fans saw Mena Massoud as the titular character, plus the Cave of Wonders. But no one got a look at the Genie (Will Smith) or Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott). After months of anticipation, the trio appears on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. Director Guy Ritchie tells EW of Smith’s role: "The great thing about the role of the Genie is that it's essentially a hyperbole for who that individual actor is, so it's a wonderful platform and tapestry for an actor to fill his boots on." Smith said of performing the role, previously played to great acclaim by the late Robin Williams: "I started to feel confident that I could deliver something that was an homage to Robin Williams but was musically different. Just the flavor of the character would be different enough and unique enough that it would be in a different lane, versus trying to compete. I think it'll stand out as unique even in the Disney world. There hasn't been a lot of that hip-hop flavor in Disney history."

NETFLIX SAYS IT DID NOT ACCESS FACEBOOK USERS’ MESSAGES: Netflix had technical access to read and delete the personal messages of Facebook users who opted into the now-shuttered social sharing integration between the platforms, but it says it never utilized its power. Per a New York Times report based on internal documents, Facebook granted more than 150 partners access to date from millions of users. "At no time did we access people’s private messages on Facebook, or ask for the ability to do so," a Netflix spokesman said in a statement. "Over the years we have tried various ways to make Netflix more social. The Facebook integration was never that popular so we shut the feature down in 2015."

STEPHEN COLBERT GRABS MORE EYEBALLS: Stephen Colbert still hosts the most-watched late night show as 2018 ends with CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, while NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon remains on top in key demographics. Still, The Late Show narrowed the gap between the all-important 18-49 ad demo. But … The Tonight Show is on top still, and has also won over the 18-34 and 25-54 demos. For the 2018-19 season through Dec. 15, The Late Show is averaging 3.67 million nightly viewers, bestingThe Tonight Show (2.46 million) by 1.21 million, a bump over the 980K Colbert had in 2017.